Of the Dragon and the Wolf

Turning 9 is such fun!

2011-04-01T15:55:00.000-07:00

Joshua had a wonderful birthday. He loves his presents and loves being nine. We took him and all the kids to a puppet show last weekend. It was Momotaro (the Peach boy) put on by Thistle Theatre. The performance was a 2 minute drive fro the Ballard locks! The kids got to see how boats go from a lake to the sound which is about 20 feet lower. We plan to go back again... to the locks and to more puppet shows.

On his actual birthday he got to go to his brother's concert and come home to puppy dog cake and candles and more presents! He also got birthday wishes over internet and over the phone. Birthdays get dragged out about a week in our lives now as people find time to be with the birthday person so he also has some birthday fun this weekend. Lucky kid!

Nine years old! WOW. They grow up so fast.

If you know me....

2011-03-08T16:42:00.001-08:00

...You know why this plaque outside the ACT theatre means something significant to me.

Creativity is Amazing

2011-02-18T13:17:00.000-08:00

After spending ten years doing hardly anything creative I could no longer live that way. After learning that my kids did not even know who made the dragons and creatures around the house I took the risk of diving back into the things I love... the things I NEED so I can be myself.

There is more to what pushed me to do this. A perfectly timed opportunity to take a workshop from the Frouds while still caring for my nursing one year old was so incredible. After three days of sitting right next to Wendy Froud and Brian Froud getting their advise on my creation and hearing their stories, I turned north to take the six hour drive from Oregon to home. I didn't want to go home! I spent the drive looking at this feeling. I love my family. I enjoy being with them even when times are hard so why was I feeling this way?

It came down to a need to have a deep conversation with my husband and to make some drastic changes in and for myself. I need my creativity like I need air and food. I was doing my children no service by sacrificing everything. In fact I was doing them harm.

Since this time I have written two books and have the beginnings of 5 more. Four of my children have written their own books, all six are wanting more books to read or to be read to more often and one child has plans to try to publish a novel he is working hard on.

Since that trip to Oregon I have made a dozen or more new products as well as old beloved ones that I have given as gifts and sold as a vendor at events that have inspired me and given me something to look forward to all year. One of my children has started his own business and sold more items at one of my event than I did! All of the children are learning how I run my business and how to run their own smaller entrepreneurial projects. As I build my websites several of the kids seek lessons from their dad about how to write code. They are all thinking to the future about what they want to be and even more important, how to get there. They see how I make and plan my new creations and they do try their hand at inventing new things.

The children have seen the videos of my past work and now beg me all the time to be allowed to use the borrowed flip camera to make video clips of puppets performing skits. Looks like we need to get our own flip! One of the kids has plans to make a full length movie. He has even already lined up a few performers!

Most important through all this time since my first trip to Oregon is that whenever I am creating I have more energy than I had before. The creating feeds itself leaving me energy to do more creating. But not only do I get enough energy to create more I have tons of energy left that spills over into daily life. The kids and I make creations together, we make chores fun, we play soccer or basketball together or ride bikes around the block. I also manage to keep the house cleaner and our lives more organized all because I take the time to create.

When we have a bought of illness or life gets too busy, I find my puppets and creatures sitting unfinished and I find myself running out of energy... I find myself back to coping through every day. So creativity is a staple of life. Without it our lives are not as rich. Without it our children suffer, my husband suffers. Without creativity I suffer.

Get your daily dose of creativity. See how it changes your life.

Wolf Moon

2011-01-19T23:39:00.000-08:00

Tonight's full moon was amazing to the kids and I. We noticed it in through the window and went out to enjoy it... until the cold got to be too much. Mirishana dashed inside with Joshua piggy back because he was barefoot.

I looked up something someone I know posted on Facebook about this being a Wolf Moon. This was what the Native American's called this month's full moon phase. I think I may like January full moons more from this year on. I still love wolves as I did when I was young. Where that love of wolves came from I have always wondered but never figured out. I watch fascinated as my kids develop new interests and loves. Maybe one day they will ask me where their love of something came from and I will be able to tell them how their love of it grew and evolved.

We all love the full moon. Full moons and falling stars...

Film maker... in the making.

2011-01-12T23:35:00.000-08:00

I may have to buy a Flip. We have a delightful orange one that belongs to a friend and my little inventor, artist, engineer, writer, entrepreneur, scientist, farmer has jumped into a filming career. He is writing a script and spent all evening filming a cat puppet that I made when he was a baby. They were doing little short skits and joke moments and have many episodes planned. All Six kids worked together and loved every minute of it. Joshua simply could not sleep tonight because of his excitement. As a result I spent all night trying to figure out how to convert Flip Video to DVD format to be burned onto a DVD. That one is far easier said than done! But I will persevere and you may all expect to his work soon... on a screen near you!

The Ruby-Slippered Sisterhood's Winter Writing Festival

2011-01-10T23:43:00.000-08:00

To become a good author I have many things I need to make a part of my life. Another writing festival has come to my attention. This one lets me pick what my writing goals are which can be revising a certain number of pages, working on my writer's blog, writing a novel... what ever works for me right now. I get a point a day for meeting my goal with 50 points being the winning goal. It is also for 50 days not 30 and is not overlapping any major, time consuming holidays! I am using this to get some revising done. A lot of my revising involves adding whole scenes so I am using it to get some writing done too!

Soon I will have an author website up and running which is a modern part of being an author. This site will include an author's blog. I will link myself to all the other authors whose blogs I read and put their links in mine. Being an author of published books is hard work!

The things I really need are some new habits. One I am already doing... Writers read to become better writers. I read at least one book a month if not more. I read books friends suggest, ones I am interested in and ones my daughter is reading.

The second new habit is harder. Writers write everyday. I do write in my journal nearly every day but I need to develop a habit of writing in my stories everyday. This will get easier next year when I have no kids with half day school. It will get even easier the year after when I have my last child in school have day. The year after that I will have absolutely no excuses as all my kids will be in school all day even if they are not all at the same school at that point. Mirishana will be in Jr. High in two years after all! Mirishana and Max will never be in the same school together.

So... I will find a way to become the writer I want to be and someday... I am DETERMINED I will get published... somehow!

Happy reading all!

Deep thoughts that haunt us. Deep thoughts that lift us.

2011-01-05T00:59:00.001-08:00

What would I do in the face of true wrong? Would I stand up to powers stronger than me in the face of atrocities and wrongs? I would like to think I would. We live in such easy times where we do not see the wrongs around us because they are so subtle compared to other eras of life and even in other parts of the world at this very time.

A woman lost her husband and children this week to a fire. They had to restrain her from running back in. I say I cannot imagine but the truth is... I can. I spent all of last winter having nightmares about loosing my family, my friends, my animals... everyone and everything I care about. I did loose many of my beloved plants I have had all my life and we lost a lot of animals to illness, weather, old age and the unknown. I cannot even say all the ways my brain managed to relay to me my fears. If faced with loosing them would I stand up and do things beyond my norm just to save them? I believe that faced with harm to any I love I would give my everything for them. Luckily most people are never faced with that. Hopefully I will never be faced with that.

I am a fighter though. I know this well. I will fight for what I believe. I do. My convictions run deep but this world I live in does not have a dragon for me to fight or befriend. There is no overpowering evil with a name we cannot say. I stand helpless as I watch the education system gutted while the last of my children anxiously awaits the year and a half until kindergarten. What kind of education will they have and where is the bad guy I can fight to right this wrong? As all my friends who are teachers watch their salaries become frozen I am helpless to build armor to help us weather these times.

We persevere none the less. It may not be the case that decades, centuries from now books and movies are made about me but how many different kinds of people fought in such small, unsung ways but changed the entire world for even only a handful of people? How many people think that of you without you even knowing it?

I have read a lot of books and watched a lot of movies lately about inspiring people who changed the world in many ways or even in fiction faced great evils and persevered. I have been rather sick this last week which left me sleeping a lot and just laying there a lot. Such thoughts as these come out of such times. I want to do better this year to stand up for what I believe in. I want to fight harder for the people I love and the dreams I believe in... and with hope... the dreams my brain concocts will give me more power too.

Happy New Year.

Shlepping

2010-12-17T13:22:00.000-08:00

We do it all the time. We do it everywhere we go. We do it every day. Shlep it here. Shlep it there. We go to the store and come home to shlep the groceries in and the sleeping kid, our coat, our purse or bag and other sundry items... all shlepped into the house. Then we shlep the stuff from the bags to the cupboards, to the pantry, to the bedrooms, bathrooms, etc., etc....

Shlepping. I go to events to be a vendor selling the puppets, costumes and creatures I make and wonderful items my family and friends make. I shlep everything to the car and back out at the event and then back into the car and then back into the house. Shlepping all the way! Boy do I shlep!

I just had a fun morning shlepping a tub of puppets to a Jr. High to meet a delightful class of special needs kids and to make a simple puppet with them. I shlepped my puppets in and shlepped them out and then just shlepped them back into the house.

There is something very different about shlepping compared to carrying. I carry a small backpack for my wallet, a small notebook and other regularly needed items. I shlep the laundry up and down and up and down the stairs. We carry our cell phones like they are extensions of ourselves. We shlep boxes of decorations around all through December.

Maybe the other definition of shlep is part of the difference. Shlepping is slow and awkward, implies heavy or something that when we carry it requires a large part of our focus. This in mind... carrying my 45 pound 3 year old is shlepping and carrying my 32 pound 6 year old... is no effort at all!

This Shlep is brought to you by my brain... that really loves words so much!

Tonsils

2010-10-18T09:08:00.001-07:00

Liam has joined the no tonsils club. Lucky him he is so young compared to many of the rest of us. He doesn't mind playing computer games non-stop to distract himself from the pain. He does need to go back to school though. It is about time. He has had more than a week of healing and is very capable of playing so tomorrow we bundle up some cold macaroni and cheese, some applesauce and pudding and off he will go to the bus minus tonsils.

Puppets, puppets, puppets

2010-08-27T17:08:00.001-07:00

The puppets I made in my teens, college years and early years as a parent were all complicated, custom made and pricey to make. It has taken awhile but I am on a roll with making fun and simple puppets that I can sell for a reasonable price. I am having fun with the kids and on my own. Tonight we are all cutting out our puppets for the Project Puppet competition. The theme this year is Heroes and Villains. It is harder to design than you might think!

We will make sure to post pictures of all our finished products and give you the link to vote for your favorite in the grown up competition. The Cosmically Cool Kids puppet competition is being judged by someone from the Muppets! This may become a family tradition to make a puppet for the competition every August/September!

Talk to you all again soon! Off to start another puppet!

Gonna Try Again.

2010-08-24T17:15:00.000-07:00

None of the computers I used to use (use to being no longer than a month ago) are what I use now. I already have some things going more smoothly on my iMac desktop and one of David's old work laptops that we bought back once they wiped it. Once again neither do everything I need but it is an imperfect world and I am blessed to have what I do. My sister-in-law gave me the 5 year old iMac and of course David gave me the laptop. One thing that does seem to be working is my ability to get into my blog.

I am going to try to keep up the blog better. From when I started it to now I have a very different life. We are all as a family trying to reach our dreams and I am actually working on my dreams. With one book written and a second in the works I hope to attempt to get published this year. I have been succeeding at my business as a vendor rapidly. Within a year I went from no money at all to nearly breaking even. Next is trying to make a profit and I think it will happen.

The kids start school next week. Dulce will be in Kindergarten, Liam will be in 1st grade, Bruno in 2nd, Joshua in 3rd and Mirishana will be in 5th! Poor Max will be home alone with me every afternoon and every other Friday. We will try to have fun together.

I will try to post something every week or at least once a month since of course some months are busier than others!

2009-04-15T11:56:00.000-07:00

It has, without a doubt, been awhile since I blogged. My health declined... severely... after our amazing little Max was born. We are on a good path to fix it and understand my body and why it does what it does far better than ever before.

Part of making everything better for us involves moving from this house that has mold issues that nothing has resolved. We found a new house this week. We are going with a low cost rental that will fit our family and has more land to fit our ambitions. This move is so we can improve our lives financially, improve our credit and gradually change our lifestyle to something closer to what we want.

This house is essentially the same size as what we are in now but it is on 2 + acres, has a 90 foot by 30 foot professional greenhouse, a barn and is right on the Centennial trail! David can commute out of Everett which improves his commuting options. I KNOW I will be taking half hour bike rides down the trail regularly. The kids have tons of play space and the greenhouse can serve as a heated winter play option! The trampoline will even fit in it!!!

We have several people interested in our current house and will be advertising it more soon. It looks like we could move the end of May and drive the kids to school for the last two weeks of school! Wow.... once a decision is made it happens quick. We started searching nearly three months ago, explored so many possibilities and finally feel this is right.

I am going to try to blog every week or at least once a month. We have very busy lives. So much happens that I can see that people would not be able to keep track. So we are starting a new phase of life to make our lives what we want and doing so with no babies in the house. (Max is totally a toddler now...sigh) Part of that new phase is that we want better contact with the people we love.

We will keep everyone updated with our new address and yes...most likely a new 425 phone number. Enjoy your week!

The Crazy Times of Life

2008-03-04T08:03:00.000-08:00

David has been given a lateral promotion which is the step below full management positions. He is now a Lead so he will be managing people!

Liam has surgery on the 14th of March to put ear tubes back in. It is a quick in and out ten minute surgery but still... surgery.

Bruno is having major surgery on the 15th of April. This will be over night and painful. Ten days of soft foods... etc. This surgery will make it possible for him to talk better and hopefully be understood.

Mirishana is selling Girl Scout cookies right now so we have boxes to deliver, site sales and money to count. As always a busy time but right now there is so much else as well.

Joshua is recovering from Strep throat. Liam may be coming down with strep throat. My asthma is flaring up again. Max STILL does not have that top tooth yet despite how close it is to coming through and he is on the verge of walking since crawling no longer interests him.

Dulce will be starting preschool at the school district soon. She qualifies because of developmental delays. They are very excited to have her and we are excited we can get her help to catch up.

There are so many other things too including dental appointments, school, cleaning house, taxes, birthdays and before long a baptism. And last night my tooth that Dad had fixed for my wedding broke... It is the composite material but still... sigh.

So craziness is worth it and we always get through it.

David received recognition at work!

2008-01-25T10:39:00.000-08:00

Yesterday David was recognized at work for his work in the fourth quarter of the last year. His boss later told him that it was actually for his work for the whole year. They are very impressed with him. It is nice for his employment to not worry us. He could stay at Amazon a long time if he wants.

Amazon announced in the last few weeks that they will be moving to the south end of Lake Union. This would take about 20 minutes off his commute. Unfortunately this will not happen until 2010. Right now he commutes to the International District.

If you know anyone that needs work in the computer and internet field let us know. Amazon is a good place to work.

Mirishana Leigh Dunham

2007-11-19T17:58:00.000-08:00

Mirishana is a tall beautiful girl who loves animals, science and art. Mirishana would like to have a horse someday. She would like to be a paleontologist and a Veterinarian. She would also like to be a mom. Mirishana is a Girl Scout. She loves going camping with her troop.

Mirishana loves dragons, fairies and princesses. She is writing stories these days. She writes about herself and about fairytales she creates.

Mirishana will be 8 years old in May. She is already tall enough that she does not legally have to have a booster seat anymore. Mirishana wants to take swimming lessons. She would like to learn how to ride a horse.

Mirishana is in the top of her class in Math this year. She is very good at Math and Science. Her teacher is very proud of her and impressed with her progress. Mirishana is enjoying taking American Sign Language. She is also learning about animal habitats, life cycles and such in her science class. She and Joshua are also in a science club; Sand and Astronomy club. They are learning all about sand. Their findings about sands across the world will be published on the internet. They love astronomy. Mirishana is having a wonderful year in gymnastics. Aside from her usual growth pain problems she is finally succeeding at the balance beam, the bars, the trampoline and other things.

Mirishana loves dragons. She has been making dragons and horses in her Clay class. She also seems to be collecting dragons. Her new favorite game is called Dragonology. It is a dragon game she got for Christmas.

Mirishana is a very bright, compassionate and creative young girl. She is going to change the world in any way she sets her heart to!

Joshua David Dunham

2007-11-19T16:07:00.002-08:00

Joshua is an amazing artist and has incredible skills with lego robotics. He has a natural spike on his head. Joshua is in his first official year of school. He loves it. He is five years old. Joshua has hazel eyes. So far he is the only one with hazel eyes. He wants to race Mini- midget racers. Joshua cannot wait to start boy scouts and sports. He really wants to do karate or tae kwon do.

Joshua has an intense personality. He has a huge imagination, lots of creative ideas and a drive to do all the things he can dream of. Josh LOVES Spiderman. Next year he wants to try being Batman.

Joshua was born four weeks early. He was born early and has been early ever since. Joshua is the first of my early bird children. He is awake very early in the morning everyday. A few weeks ago he did tell me that he is a big boy now and should be allowed to stay up later like Mirishana.

Joshua lost his first two teeth this year. He has wanted to lose a tooth since his sister lost her first one two years ago! He entered a photo in the fair this last summer. He is a blooming photographer. He is learning how to build models this year. He is very good at it! So far he has made some dinosaurs and a monkey.

Joshua is a wonderful boy. He is full of fun. It will be an adventure to see what he does in life!

Bruno Alexander Dunham

2007-11-19T16:06:00.000-08:00

Bruno is a child with charisma bigger than he is. He was a favorite of all the kids at the orphanage he grew up in. Bruno is a bright little boy with lots of energy. He and Liam love to play together. Mirishana loves to follow him at the playground and help him with all his adventures. Joshua has been teaching him english while trying to learn spanish.

Currently he has a different name on his birth certificate. He is Bruno Alexander Dunham Reagan. It is the custom in latin american countries for the child to have two sir names. The first one is the father's last name. The second one is the mother's maiden sir name. This makes him a Dunham Reagan!

Bruno LOVES salsa. He will eat anything if there is salsa on it. This little boy is adjusting so well to the family. We love him so much and cannot wait to get to know him more.

Liam Thomas Dunham

2007-11-19T15:59:00.001-08:00

Liam is going to rule the world someday. He just has that kind of charm, energy and ingenuity. Liam is full of curiosity about the world around him. He loves animals and nature. This may be why he loves Go Diego Go. Liam loves cats. His favorite animal is named Aggie. Aggie is a big orange cat he has known since he was a baby.

He has a white blonde patch at the back of his head. Liam enjoyed giving himself haircuts until we figured out that he wanted a short spikey haircut like his big brother and were able to give him a similar cut without him doing it himself.

Liam is in preschool one morning a week this year. He loves it. He spends the rest of the week wanting to go back to "his" class. Liam loves going to singing time in Primary as well. The three year olds are going to sharing time to learn how to adjust to being sunbeams. He will be a sunbeam full time in January.

Like his siblings, Liam has an uncanny ability with building things. In both art and lego robots Liam shows a natural talent. Liam also has a natural talent for compassion. He reaches out to others and looks after those he loves. I know we will see this part of him grow as he leaves the preschool years. He also has a tendency to put things away without being asked. Since he could walk he would pick up bits of garbage off the floor and put them in the garbage on his own.

When Liam was eight months old he was not yet rolling over. We figured this was ok because cleft palate children are prone to reflux. Who wants to be on their belly if it causes such discomfort? At eight and a half months Liam spent 24 hours going from sitting in one place to walking and climbing. When he does something he does it completely it seems. He also had a wonderful ability to assess a situation. He would back down from a climbing situation that he knew he could not do. Other times he would keep going when I thought it was too much for him and sure enough he was fine.

Liam has come so far in his life already. He is an amazing little boy who has so much more to explore and so much to share.

Dulce Raquel Dunham

2007-11-19T15:55:00.000-08:00

Dulce was born in Guatemala on September 24, 2004. She was born premature by an unknown amount. She grew up in two different foster homes before coming home in February of 2007. We were so happy to finally have her home. She loves toys that make sounds. She loves gato or cats. Baby goats are scary though. Dulce loves baby dolls. She wraps them in blankets, pats their backs and feeds them. She also loves her baby brother!

Dulce has beautiful dark curly hair. She looks good in yellow and orange colors and bright pinks. Dulce goes to bed early and gets up early. She is one of our three early birds. Dulce loves her Nursery class. She will be in Sunbeams in January.

Dulce is also our little vampire child. She has her four front top teeth removed because they were very decayed. This leaves her with pointy canine teeth that show when she smiles or "miles" as she likes to say. Lately her favorite word is "Why". Dulce is our petite little girl.

We love Dulce so much. She is growing so fast.

Max Rohan Dunham

2007-11-16T16:37:00.000-08:00

Max is a delightful baby boy. He loves to laugh at his siblings when they make faces and noises for him. He loves to look at people and is always ready with a big smile.

His favorite toys are a Buckyball, a foot and a hand toy and of course his siblings! Max is the biggest of my babies at birth and at every month birthday so far. He is also the one born the quickest. From 15 minute apart contractions to holding him in my arms was less than an hour.

Max has blue eyes with flecks of brown that get bigger every week. He will have his first tooth soon. Max loves to sing. Max loves to be bounced on the exercise ball and to be in the swing if he is in the mood. Max loves sitting up but cannot hold himself up yet.

Every week we discover new things about this wonderful little boy. We love watching him grow.

Thanksgiving is Coming soon!

2007-11-16T11:13:00.000-08:00

We have been trying for two and a half years to get our two children home. Dulce's adoption took 20 months to get her home. Bruno's is not so clear as to how long. The adoption officially started when we were there in September but because it is a pilot program it took a year for them to figure out what paperwork they wanted from us. We found out about Bruno in January of 2006. We knew pretty quickly that he was the boy we knew was waiting for us and that we did want to try to get him home.

Here we are a week away from Thanksgiving and so blessed. We have six beautiful, talented children that bring so much to our lives. I will take some time this week to help all of you get to know them. Six days, six kids! They are wonderful when you get a chance to see who they really are.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween!!!!

2007-10-31T08:30:00.000-07:00

Happy Halloween everyone! We are doing Halloween differently this year. We are giving treats to others! This solves all the things that has in the past made Halloween no fun. Dulce and Liam shared their books that teach the different parts of a pumpkin. Joshua shared his Jack-o-lantern book which has Jack-o-happy and even Jack-o-pie! Mirishana read her book about bats and our favorite Halloween book "This is Not a Pumpkin".

Mirishana was a Unicorn this year. Joshua was Optimus Prime. Liam was Diego. Dulce was a Pumpkin Clown. Max was a Dragon.

After a fun day of visiting people and sharing our Halloween treats we went home and made a yummy Halloween meal of hot dog Mummies. The kids found that there is a very fun part to Halloween that they have missed all these years. They LOVED giving candy to the Trick-or-Treaters that came to the door!

School of Distinction

2007-10-25T15:38:00.000-07:00

This month our school, Sky Valley Education Center, was given the superintendents learning improvement award "School of Distinction" award. The school is in the top 5% of schools in the state for learning improvement. This means we had some of the highest improvement in scores and grades over the last few year.

The kids are doing wonderfully this year. They love their classes. Joshua is thriving in his classes. Mirishana is top of her class in Math. They both LOVE their Sand and Astronomy club. If you are at a beach or desert bag up about a cup of sand for them. This club will be cataloging sands from across the world and putting the data online. Joshua and Mirishana are naturals at this rare science, Sand Science. They are the first ones to show up and the only ones to stay late to clean up. They have a wonderful teacher.

Liam and Dulce love their class. They have a preschool class once a week. They love making new friends and learning their own level of skills. This week they made a book about pumpkins.

All the kids are making new friends and enjoying old friends. Come have lunch with us some time at the school and check out this wonderful school that we are so lucky to have!

www.monroe.wednet.edu/pages/svec.html

Mexico here we come!!! Bruno is coming home!

2007-10-24T13:59:00.001-07:00

David will be leaving Sunday November 4th to pick up Bruno. They will fly home on the 17th of November. David will miss Dia de los Muertos (Day of the Dead) by just a few days. We are so excited. Our two and a half year journey to bring Bruno and Dulce home is almost over.

We will keep you all updated!

Honk Honk

2007-10-05T14:41:00.000-07:00

Eclectus parrots honk. They are gorgeous birds but they honk. They are as good at talking as the African Greys but are a calmer quieter bird. These are the perfect sort of birds for me. They are eclectic! They love fruit and are as I already said ... GORGEOUS!!! I will be breeding these birds to bring in some income again. I am trying to breed my doves, bourkes, parrotlets, some finches and now these parrots.

My birds used to pay for themselves and one of two bills each month until Liam had his surgery and all the things went wrong after selling our first house. I made that much with just finches! I lost so many birds because of the workers at the rental house. It hurt a lot but finally they are healthy again and singing and even laying eggs!

I will put the nest box in for the parrotlets come the end of October. I will give the nest box to the Eclectus in six months. The doves are on eggs right now and so are the bourkes. I love my birds. They are so beautiful. I cannot wait to be able to build my indoor/outdoor aviary! It will be great.

Gorgeous!!

My trippy sunglasses

2007-10-03T20:31:00.000-07:00

My sunglasses got a big scratch in them the week fair started. While we were at the fair one day we checked out the glasses at one of the booths. They had a great pair that were suppose to eliminate glare... a few weeks passed and as we flew home from Mexico a bizarre phenomenom began. There were rainbows on the runway. Rainbows? Was I seeing this right? It is worse now that we are here in Washington again. Side roads look green, puddles have the full spectrum and a wet road is havoc on the eyes.

I feel a bit loopy seeing rainbows everywhere. Crazy glasses.

Can it be?

2007-09-26T11:24:00.000-07:00

Can it really be October next week? I better get going on those Halloween Costumes!

Mirishana is going to be a unicorn since it is not a good year for me to make the dragon costume she wants.

Joshua wants to be a Transformer.

Liam is going to be Diego.

Dulce will be a clown.

Max will be cuteness!

Bridge to Terabithia

2007-09-25T19:06:00.000-07:00

We watched the new movie of this classic childhood book tonight. We lived our childhoods loving the imagination that these kind of classics gave us. Sooner or later we leave that time but do we keep what those books gave us?

Like so many of the books we read this one had glorious inspiring moments and also was sad with reality. Even as adults we cry at those parts while staying wholly absorbed in the story. We cannot wait for our children to experience these stories for themselves. These were the first stories to make us think. These stories taught us what it is to dream.

When reality becomes too much and we forget to dream and to think and to imagine we need to find a way to come back to the places that initially inspired us... the stories that taught us laugh, to cry and to dream. Somehow we need to hold on to these basic and necessary qualities.

Goodnight! Sweet dreams!

Dulce's Birthday!!!! September 24

2007-09-25T00:43:00.000-07:00

Two years ago today we had a breakfast brunch for our daughter... A year ago we hung a birthday sign and could not celebrate without her. It is still up. Today we finally had a birthday with our daughter here! She is three and growing so much. Dulce loves her new cabbage patch baby. She cannot get enough of the toy stroller just her size. She even has a baby doll sized pack n' play that was made by the same people who make the big ones!!

Dulce is three years old! She is a feisty, petite little thing full of energy. We are so happy to have her in our lives. In a year... we can celebrate her 4th birthday with her.